New Orleans -- John Harbaugh said Monday morning that he and his brother, Jim, would never sit down together and watch a tape of Super Bowl XLVII.

Which is a good thing because John might be tempted to ask Jim, "So, bro, on those last four plays, can you tell me what exactly you were thinking?"

The 49ers' final stand will go down in their Super Bowl lore alongside Dan Bunz and John Taylor, only on the wrong side of the ledger. The 49ers had four chances to get into the end zone, take the lead from the Ravens and put themselves in the driver's seat to win a sixth Super Bowl. Their many offensive options should have made the short distance between despair and joy navigable.

They didn't score. And that futile goal-line series will haunt the 49ers forever.

Maybe- but not too many losing teams make it back and win the big game.

And until the 49ers get a chance to erase the memory with another Super Bowl trip, that last offensive series will be constantly replayed, analyzed and criticized.

On their first play, the 49ers ran LaMichael James for 2 yards, down to the 5. Fine. Keep that up and you're in the end zone on fourth down.

Then the weirdness started. Three straight passes, all to the right, all to Michael Crabtree, the receiver the Ravens fully expected Kaepernick to target. All incomplete.

The 49ers' other options were neutralized. Forgotten. The quarterback who rushed for 181 yards against Green Bay? Kaepernick didn't try to run the ball. The Ravens were blitzing, daring him to throw and making a delayed read difficult, but it would have been nice to see at least one Kaepernick run.

The best offensive player on the 49ers, Frank Gore? Gore already had run for one touchdown. He had 81 yards rushing in the second half, including a 33-yard dash around left end that put the 49ers on the 7-yard line. Running would have pitted the 49ers' powerful offensive line against the Ravens' mediocre run defense. Yet, Gore was used only as a blocker on the final three plays.

Vernon Davis, the tight end whom Ray Lewis was desperately trying and failing to cover for much of the game? Nope. Randy Moss, the receiver signed specifically for such a situation, and the king of the fade route? No.

Instead, it was predictable passes to Crabtree. Again and again.

"We had some stat during the week that every time in the red zone, there was a 52 percent chance on a pass they were going to Crabtree," Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith told Sports Illustrated.

For all the innovation and imagination that Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman had showed all season, they couldn't get 5 short yards when they needed them.

Play-calling wasn't the only questionable strategy on the final series. The 49ers, as they have all season, had time-management issues. As the play clock ran out on third down, Harbaugh used a timeout.

It might have been better to take the delay and give Kaepernick more room to maneuver and also save a precious timeout for when the Ravens got the ball back. And, again, running the ball rather than passing would use up clock and give the Ravens the ball back with very little time for a comeback.

Of course, a Ravens comeback wasn't necessary.

The discussion about whether Smith was holding Crabtree on the 49ers' final offensive play of the game rages red hot among 49ers fans. But not so much elsewhere in the world. Crabtree appeared to initiate contact, the ball probably was uncatchable, and the officials - who were calling a loose game - were disinclined to throw a flag on a play that would decide the Super Bowl.

And if you don't like the call, remember that it was a similar no-call against 49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman, who was guarding Falcons receiver Roddy White, that put the 49ers in the Super Bowl in the first place. Can't have it both ways.

Jim Harbaugh complained to the officials. He complained to the media. His players were much more matter-of-fact about the play, saying it was merely a part of the game.

"It is what it is," Crabtree said. "You can't whine to the referee. You have to just take it like a man."

The 49ers' futility in their final moments raised questions in some people's minds about the viability of the pistol offense. The Ravens were determined to hit Kaepernick on every play, one reason he appeared to be so rattled in the first half. And on the last play, Gore's positioning behind Kaepernick made him slow to get to the blitzing Raven, forcing Kaepernick to throw off balance.

In reality, the 49ers lost the game in the first half, when they came out looking flat and unprepared. They fell behind 28-6 early in the second half and were clearly the inferior team. The fact that they rallied to be in a position to win is a tribute to their offensive capabilities. The fact that they didn't win it is both a tribute to the Ravens and an indication that more work needs to be done.

On Monday morning, John Harbaugh was still floating from his team's accomplishment - but he was sensitive to his brother's pain.

"There is no loser in the Super Bowl," John said helpfully.

That's probably not a line he should try on his brother, either. Because the 49ers lost a championship game they could have won.